Wherefore I also said. — Rather, And now I have said.
I will not drive them out. — The withdrawal of the conditional promises in Exodus 23:31.
They shall be as thorns in your sides. — The Hebrew is, “they shall be to you for sides.” The words “as thorns” are conjecturally supplied from Numbers 33:55. In Joshua 23:13 we have “scourges in your sides.” The LXX. render “for pressures,” and the Vulgate “that you may have enemies.” The Hebrew word for “sides” is tsiddim, and would differ little from tsarim (“nets”), which is the conjecture of R. Jonas; and this root is found in the verb, “and they shall vex you,” in Numbers 33:55. Whether we adopt this reading, or tsinnim (“thorns”), or suppose that a word has dropped out, the general sense is the same.
Their gods shall be a snare unto you. — See Judges 2:12-13; Psalms 106:36.